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FACTCHECK

Debunked: A video claiming Prince Harry asked Cillian Murphy if he was British has been doctored

A video purporting to show the two having a conversation has gone viral on Twitter, where it has been viewed millions of times.

For general Factchecks not about Covid

A VIDEO WHICH appears to show Irish actor Cillian Murphy meeting Prince Harry and correcting the prince when he states that Murphy is “British” has been doctored.

The video has gone viral on Twitter, where it has been viewed millions of times.

It appears to have been created by a Twitter user and posted as a joke, but it has been retweeted by thousands of accounts, with many appearing to take the clip at face value.

It was first posted on 2.50pm on 22 July in response to a tweet which states that Murphy may be nominated for an Oscar for his role in director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which was released last week.

“I don’t think our neighbours will be claiming this guy when he wins the Oscar next year,” the Twitter user says, sharing the video.

The doctored video uses a clip taken on 14 July 2017 from the UK premiere of director Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, in which Prince Harry meets the cast of the movie.

Cillian Murphy is among the cast members present, and he shakes Harry’s hand and shares a few words, before Harry moves on.

In the doctored clip, audio is added with subtitles which purports to show the conversation between the two men. The supposed conversation goes like this:

Harry: “So, you’re British?”

Murphy: ”No, I’m Irish.” 

Harry: “Ah yeah I know, British.”

Murphy: “No, no, no. I’m Irish. It’s a big difference.”

The video then appears to show Murphy staring angrily at Harry as he moves on to talk to other cast members.

The original doctored video has been viewed 2.4 million times and retweeted and quote tweeted over 1,400 times. Many of the quote tweets have themselves been retweeted hundreds of times, meaning it has been shared by thousands of accounts.

In the Twitter thread on which the clip was created, the user in question states that the clip is fake:

“I made the video this morning on CapCut and yes I stole the audio from that Tom Hardy Inception interview,” the user says, stating that the video has been doctored.

However, many of the accounts sharing the video seem to take it at face value.

“The #UnSussexful and Dumb Prince Harry was openly schooled about the difference between being Irish and being British. He must have felt uniquely stupid. What was it he said in his book about people thinking him unintelligent?” one user with over 35,000 followers states.

Inception interview

The audio used in the doctored clip comes from a separate video from 2010.

In the video in question, Murphy and fellow actor Tom Hardy are being interviewed to promote Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which was released that year.

It appears the pair are being interviewed for a Hebrew-language television station (due to the subtitles that appear along with the clip). The interviewer in question asks Murphy if he is British, and Murphy quickly corrects him.

This clip has been shared many times over the past number of years across all social media platforms.

TheJournal’s sister site The DailyEdge reported on the clip back in 2017. However, we have been unable to find the original interview in question, only edited clips.

The video with Prince Harry has also been shared widely in the past, with videos edited to zoom in on Murphy’s face as he looks at Prince Harry, and with ominous music added.

However, it is impossible to tell from the original video what Murphy and Prince Harry spoke about. There is no indication that the prince mistook Murphy as being British.

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